Organization tied to Filles du Roi, settlers of Quebec

You may have heard of the Filles du Roi – the King’s Daughters – who helped settle Quebec.

It turns out that there were 770 of them who came from France between 1663 and 1673 under the financial sponsorship of King Louis XIV.

I never realized that there is an organization for those who are descended from a Fille du Roi. It is La Societe des Filles du Roi et Soldats du Carignan Inc., based in Chantilly, Va.

And, the group has its own Web site at www.fillesduroi.org

The list is there, including the name of the spouse of each daughter who married. You might be surprised at how many of the King’s Daughters are your ancestors.

The daughters include Marguerite Abraham, who married first, Joseph-Ozanie Nadeau in 1665, and second, Guillaume Chartier in 1678.

Moreover, there is a list of members of the Carignan-Saliere Regiment, the first French Regiment sent to Canada in 1665.

If you prove descent from one of the Filles du Roi or one of the soldiers, you can join the society as a regular member. If you’re just interested in the group, you could be an associate member.

The immigrant ancestor of the Lagassie family in Maine, Andre Mignier dit Lagace, was a Carignan soldier who married a Fille du Roi, Jacquette Michel, in Quebec.

I mention them because the Lagaces are the focus of Bob Chenard’s current installment of The French Connection in the fall-winter 2006 issue of Le Forum, a quarterly magazine published by the Franco-American Center at the University of Maine.

Le Forum has gone from a newspaper to a magazine format, which I like very much.

One of my long-ago correspondents was Leo G. Cyr, the author of the very fine “Madawaskan Heritage,” with its St. John Valley history and many lines from that area back to Acadia and Quebec.

Cyr, the Limestone native who served as U.S. ambassador to Rwanda for President Lyndon Johnson, died in 2003.

So I will cherish Jacqueline Chamberland Blesso’s interview with Cyr in the current issue of Le Forum. The article is a reprint from the April-June 2006 issue of Echoes Magazine, published in Caribou.

“His extensive research at the National Archives enabled him to trace his family’s lineage,” Blesso wrote, “and in the process recount the history of the French through Acadie and Quebec to the St. John Valley. ‘Madawaskan Heritage’ has taken its place among the important records of the Valley.”

It was while attending Georgetown Foreign Service School in the early 1930s that Cyr discovered a collection on Acadia at the Library of Congress – and promptly changed the subject of his master’s thesis to accommodate his new interest.

The article also addresses Cyr’s ambassadorship to Rwanda, making for a fascinating story.

A few of the other articles are Daniel N. Paul’s “La Petite Souvenance,” about the Acadians and the Micmacs during the Deportation of 1755-1763; Sister Ella Marie Germain’s “The Germain Saga;” and “A Salute to Nicolas Pelletier,” William Peltier III’s account of returning to France in 2005 for the dedication of a plaque in Gallardon.

Frequently, there is an article on, or by, a genealogical society from outside Maine – this time, the French-Canadian Genealogical Society of Connecticut. Its Web site is www.fcgsc.org/index.htm

I think this is a wonderful publication for anyone of Franco-American heritage.

Subscriptions to Le Forum are $20 in the United States, $25 elsewhere, $40 for libraries. Send check to Le Forum, Franco-American Center, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469-5719.

Numerous Maine towns still have their Boston Post Cane, which is presented to the community’s oldest citizen.

Congratulations to my great-aunt, Flora Huff Moore, 97, who recently received the Boston Post Cane for Guilford from town manager Tom Goulette, my classmate at Piscataquis Community High School.

Next week: Do you know whether your town had a page of servicemen and women in the Bangor Daily News during World War II? Check our list and see.

Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or familyti@bangordailynews.net.